Mason Thames Is Dominating The Box Office!

Mason Thames is the biggest star at the box office right now. His film Regretting You is #2, and the follow-up to his breakout film The Black Phone, Black Phone 2, is #3. But who is Mason Thames, how is the 18-year-old such a charismatic actor already, and what is next for this burgeoning new talent? 

Thames was born in Dallas, Texas, in July 2007. He was always drawn to performing, first to the art of ballet. After being brought to his older sister’s dance practice, a 7-year-old Mason fell in love with the dance and began touring with an international professional company by 2013 as the youngest member of the group. The discipline taught to him in ballet gave him the ability to handle both pointed direction and the sting of rejection. Thames describes his switch over to acting as a natural progression from his work in ballet, saying that the moment he tried acting, "It just clicked, and I’ve loved it ever since." 

Trading in his ballet slippers for acting chops came easily for Thames. He landed his first role in 2017, at the age of 10, in the 2017 short film "After Omelas" as Liam. Meanwhile, he performed as a dancer in The Nutcracker before making his television debut in the Apple TV sci-fi drama "For All Mankind" (2019) as the younger version of Danny Stevens. 

In 2020, after months of auditions via Zoom, Thames got the call of a lifetime, finding out he booked the role as Finney Shaw alongside Ethan Hawke’s "The Grabber" in Scott Derrickson’s horror-thriller The Black Phone. Adapted from a short story by Joe Hill, Stephen King’s son, The Black Phone is a terrifying and cerebral look into child abduction, generational trauma, and connection with spirits. Hinging around a supernatural black phone, Finney and his sister, Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), must fight The Grabber and free not only Finney but the many lost souls The Grabber has taken. Thames was equipped with the maturity, acuity, and bravery to play the role. Hawke dons a terrifying, toothy clown mask with horns, a terrifying image for any child. Yet, as Finney, Thames maintains the maturity of an older brother while exhibiting the natural fear and tumult of a victim of kidnapping.  

On casting Thames, director Derrickson noted his "ability to truthfully and emotionally process every moment, one shot at a time, without overacting," a difficult thing for an adult actor, let alone a child, particularly in the horror genre. He has an ability "you can’t teach," according to Derrickson. As the shy and clever 13-year-old boy within the soundproof basement of The Grabber, Thames must often act against nobody, alone, lacking a scene partner, and display emotions solely through facial expressions. He does it masterfully and helped to secure the iconic status and the sequel film for The Black Phone franchise. He also caught the eyes of casting directors, who were looking for a new Hiccup for their live-action reboot of How to Train Your Dragon. 

Thames shot to international acclaim when he was cast as Hiccup in Universal Pictures’ live-action remake of How to Train Your Dragon. Directed by Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders, the film became an instant Summer blockbuster in 2025, earning $635 million at the worldwide box office. DeBlous saw The Black Phone and immediately put Thames on the "long list" of candidates to be his star. They even asked Thames to audition, and for Thames, that was nothing short of "destiny". 

Playing, or rather, being, Hiccup was a childhood dream of Thames’s. Just as Jay Baruchel’s Hiccup brought sensitivity, empathy, and bravery, which inspired Thames in his youth, he hoped to bring that same inspiration to a new generation through his performance. Bringing the Viking realm to life was another source of awe for Thames, who was mystified by the work of VFX artists, set dressers, and stunt people throughout the making of the film. He is set to return as Hiccup in 2027 in the franchise’s next installment. 

Thames had two films released in October: Black Phone 2 and Colleen Hoover romance adaptation Regretting You. In both films, Thames is up against some Hollywood heavy hitters, from Ethan Hawke reprising his role as The Grabber to Allison Williams and Dave Franco in Regretting You. Not only does he hold his own, deepening Finney’s arc from the first film and showing his range as a romantic lead, but he has secured his place in the ranks of stardom. 

Black Phone 2, which was released on October 17, is a true spooky season film. The Grabber returns with a vengeance to haunt Gwen’s dreams and make healing impossible for Finney. As the pair cope with the return of their dead mother via Gwen’s dreams and saving a children’s camp from The Grabber’s wrath, Thames must balance big brother protection, the continued taunting of Hawke’s villain, and the lingering power of trauma all on his face. His character arc is strong, and Thames can even better spar with Hawke through phone-call dialogue scenes and intense, hand-to-hand action sequences. 

In contrast, Regretting You is a saccharine story about family, young love, and grief. Adapted from the Hoover novel of the same name, Thames was cast opposite Mckenna Grace, the pair playing high school sweethearts. Demanding maturity and intimacy, both young actors are adept and filled with chemistry in the film, the balance of hope and youth to the grief of Williams’s character. 

Mason Thames, now 18, has a full slate ahead of him. Not only is he set to star in the next film of the How to Train Your Dragon franchise, and could be tapped to do a third Black Phone film, but he has other original films coming down the pipeline. He will star in New Year’s Rev, a road trip buddy comedy based on the story of the band Green Day, later this year. Macon Blair will return to directing with The Sh*theads, a comedy starring Thames, as well as his Regretting You co-star Dave Franco and Kiernan Shipka. 

Since he was a child, Thames could not resist performance. The boy from Texas is now a sought-after young star, with his vulnerability and natural charisma making him an obvious frontrunner in casting directors’ and film fans’ minds alike!